‘Curious in Our Way’: The Culture of Nature in Philadelphia, 1740 to 1840
A symposium to be held November 18 to 21, 2004, in Philadelphia

Scholars from a variety of disciplines will offer a dynamic picture of the ways in which the visual interpretation of the natural world functioned during a critical moment in the development of modern science in North America and the trans-Atlantic world, with Philadelphia as the geographic focus. Through the analysis of drawings and related specimens of flora, fauna, and other natural productions, as well as prints, illustrated books, and scientific journals, the speakers will demonstrate that Philadelphia naturalists were at the hub of a lively international exchange of images of the natural world and the stuff of nature itself.

Symposium events will include two days of papers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and visits to the exhibitions Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition, at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and Stuffing Birds, Pressing Plants, Shaping Knowledge: Natural History in North America, 1730-1860, at the American Philosophical Society, as well as a morning trip to Bartram’s Garden. The exhibitions and garden visit will enable participants to examine for themselves many of the types of objects examined in the symposium, as well as the historic settings in which these objects were collected, propagated, and discussed.

A related publication, with the title of The Culture of Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, is forthcoming from Yale University Press. Further details are available at www.shnh.org, or by email to lisa.ford@yale.edu.

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